Baseball player&#39;s glove



June 2%, 1934. RICHEY, JR 1,964,175

BASEBALL PLAYER S GLOVE Filed Aug. 4, 1933 Patented June 26, 1934 STATES BASEBALL PLAYERS GLOVE Alban Richey, Jr.,

Holderness, N. H.

Application August 4, 1933, Serial No. 683,615

6 Claims.

This invention relates to sport gloves and particularly to baseball players gloves.

In order that the principle of the invention may readily be understood, I have disclosed a single embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Fig. l is a front elevation of a baseball players glove having my invention applied to the thumbreceiving pocket or member thereof;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section upon an enlarged scale lengthwise of the thumb-receiving pocket;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section upon the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction of the arrows in said figure;

Fig. 4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 3 but indicating a slightly different manner of securing one edge of the partition in place; and

Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the thumb-receiving pocket and immediately adjacent portion of i the glove to show the preferred manner of securing the thumb-receiving pocket to the body of the glove.

Baseball players gloves, although varying somewhat in form and construction according to the fielding position held by the player, have long 39 the fingers, and the padding of each of said pockets, but especially the thumb-receiving pocket and also the base of the palm portion. Inasmuch as the thumb pocket in particular must be thoroughly padded, the said pocket is so large or. roomy in cross section that the thumb slips or moves about in the said pocket during playing. Moreover the size of the entire glove is such that the fingers and thumb must be spread considerably. Furthermore, the gloves are comparatively 40 expensive so that although the padding of the thumb becomes displaced in use or the glove is found to be not well adapted to the extent of span of the owner of the glove, the player often continues to use a glove that is not entirely satisfactory rather than purchase a new one.

It has been the experience of baseball players that the padding of the thumb is apt to work toward the back of the thumb or further in between the thumb and forefinger rather than to 59 hold its position where it thoroughly protects the front of the thumb. The result is that the hard thrown or hard batted ball is received against the front of the thumb where very slightly protected and the thumb soon becomes bruised and sore.

The object of my invention is mainly two-fold; namely, (1) to provide means in the thumb pocket preferably in the nature of a lengthwise extending partition of any suitable length, either at the front or at the back of which the thumb of the player may be received according to the span of his hand, and (2) to assist in confining or retaining the padding of the thumb pocket to or at the front of the thumb. These and other objects of the invention will be readily understood from the ensuing description.

The main or hand portion of the glove is indicated at 1 in Fi 1, the thumb-receiving member or pocket is indicated at 2, and the finger pockets at 3, 4, 5, 6, respectively. The glove is preferably of leather and lacing is provided at '7 to permit the hand portion of the glove to be opened up for insertion of the padding, or for renewing the same, etc. after the glove has been n use. The glove is preferably provided at the back of the hand with a strap portion extending transversely of the back in customary manner and the details of construction and shape of the glove are varied in accordance with the fielding position of the player. I have indicated at 8 a lacing extending from the thumb pocket to the index finger receiving pocket. My invention, however, is entirely independent of the precise structure of the finger-receiving pockets.

The glove is preferably of heavy, carefully selected leather and the thumb-receiving pocket 2 is a leather piece that is entirely distinct from the hand portion 1, but is secured thereto along a seam at the base of the thumb as indicated at 9. This seam is or may be of usual structure excepting that as indicated in Fig. 5 the leather piece for the thumb-receiving pocket is so cut as to provide a tongue 10 which is seamed along one edge at 11 to the hand portion of the glove and along the outer edge 12 to its own other edge. Inevitably the thumb of the glove is subjected to a great deal of strain because of the impact of the ball and the seam as usually constructed often breaks at the. base of the thumb pocket between the thumb and index finger. By providing the tongue extension 10 and seaming the two edges thereof as described, the liability of seam breakage is much lessened. Such feature, while desirable, may be used apart from the internal construction of the thumb pocket with which my invention is more particularly concerned.

The padding of the thumb is indicated at 13 in Fig. 2, wherein and also in Fig. l the upward extension of the seam 12 is indicated at 14. It will be noted that the padding 13 is relatively extensive and that a wall 15 is provided which I herein term the padding rear wall. Said rear wall is of the usual structure found in sport gloves of this character, and the space 16 at the rear of said Wall is of the usual size, the said wall being usually of double thickness at the rear as indicated at 17 by reason of the fact that the wall 15 extends over the top of the thumb and down the back side of the thumb as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3.

The opening 16 is normally, however, of such large size in cross section that the thumb is not held close against the padding l3 and therefore the padding is in practice apt to become somewhat displaced notwithstanding the existence of the padding rear wall 15. Moreover the natural span or stretch of the players hand may not conform perfectly to the size of the glove considering the largeness of the thumb-receiving pocket 16.

For the several reasons indicated 1 therefore provide means affording two thumb-receiving spaces to be used as desired, and to that end I pref erably provide a lengthwise extenchn partition 18 which may be of any suitable length but which preferably as indicated in Fig. 2 terminates considerably short of the upper end of the thumb receiving pocket. The said partition 18 is preferably of leather and is secured along its outer edge 19 to the back wall of the thumb-receiving pocket and at its other edge it is preferably turned or bent upon itself as indicated at 20 and is there sewed or otherwise secured to the said rear wal 15, and in such position as to provide two spaces 21 and 22, each large enough to receive the thumb of the player. If the players hand has a wide span or normal stretch the player would position his thumb to the back of the partition 18, out if the stretch or span of his hand is less, he would prefer to position it in the space 21. It is evident that, particularly when the players thumb is positioned inthe space 21, it is snugly received and confined directly back of the padding 13 and so tends to hold the padding in place; It will be understood from the foregoing that the partition 13 is in addition to the usual lining for the thumb, and that said partition has a lower free edge that permits the thumb to be inserted at either side of the said partition 18.

I may supplement the padding-retaining feature of my invention by extending the stitching, which is shown at 23 in Fig. 3 as wholly in the partition 18 and wall 15, into or through the padding itself as indicated at 24 in Fig. 4.

Having thus described one illustrative embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that although specific terms are employed. theyv are used in a generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.

1. A sport glove, particularly intended for baseball players provided with an outer or cover member and, a lining, and having at least a thumb-receiving pocket or member padded at the front of the thumb, and having in addition to said lining a lengthwise extending partition in the space between said padding and the back wall of the said pocket or member free at its lower edge and, so located as to permit the thumb to be received at either side of said partition.

2. A sport glove, particularly intended for baseball players, having at least a thumb-receiving pocket or member padded at the front of said thumb pocket, a padding-positioning wall and a lengthwise extending partition secured to said wall and to the back of the thumb-receiving pocket and so located as to permit the thumb to be received at either side of said partition.

3. A sport glove, particularly intended for baseball players, having finger and thumb-receiving padded pockets, the thumb-receiving pocket having a leather wall for confining the padding to the front of the thumb pocket, and a leather partition extending lengthwise of the thumb but terminating short of the top of the thumb-receiving pocket and sufficiently spaced from said wall and from the back of the thumb-receiving pocket to permit the thumb of the player to be received at either side of said partition.

4. A sport glove, particularly intended for baseball players, having at least a thumb-receiving pocket or member padded at the front of the thumb, a padding-positioning wall at the rear of the padding, a lengthwise extending partition secured at one edge of the back of the thumb-receiving pocket and at its opposite edge secured to the said wall by stitching extending into the padding.

5. A sport glove, particularly intended for baseball players provided with an outer or cover member and a lining, and having at least a thumb-receiving pocket or member, padded at the front of the thumb, said thumb-receiving pocket or. member having in addition to said lining,

means provided with a lower free edge extending lengthwise thereof that divides the same into two separate spaces in either of which the thumb may be received in using the glove.

6. A sport glove particularly intended for baseball players having at least a thumb-receiving pocket or member padded. at the front of the thumb and having a lengthwise extending partition in the space between said padding and the back wall of said pocket ormember, said partition having a lower free edge to permit the thumb to be inserted at either side of. said partition into the thumb-receiving pocket or member, for the pun pose stated.

ALBAN RICI-IEY, JR. 

